No Grandparents Here

I need to confess that I had a Christmas meltdown last night during the little boys' Christmas concert.

It wasn't because every picture I took included this gentleman's bald head.

It wasn't tears brought on by Mr. Clark's charming rendition of "Legacy of Love," although it was beautiful.

I cried in the pew because I wished that my children had grandparents there to watch them like the other kids. The church was filled with big families with aunts and uncles and cousins.

And me and another boy.

J still smiled at us and waved from the stage. It was a precious moment.

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Cinderella v. The House Elf

Thanks to the blue-ray DVD release of the last Harry Potter film, our "Middle B" son has become very interested in the series.

At the same time, we are hosting a house guest from Japan who enjoys pretending to be "Cinderella." She irons our clothes, cooks, and washes dishes while we snap photos for her scrapbook.

She clamours for more tasks.

If she's "Cinderella" then I guess that makes me "The Evil Step-Mother," a role I don't feel suits me.

I'd rather have a House Elf like "Dobby." Then I'd be a wizard with magi al powers and a magical helper.

I suppose the end of the story is better for Cinderella. I wish that my Japanese friend would one day find her Prince.

She arranged our doll house before she left. At least that house remains tidy in her absence.

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Leadership 101 or Intro to Leadership

I'm taking a graduate course entitled, "Leading Continuous Digital Learning." In this class and the last two, we've explored the characteristics of leadership, management styles, how to overcome resistance, etc. It seems to me that there are as many opinions about leadership as there are leaders. I find that I am having trouble drawing any single conclusion from the myriad readings.

Leaders aren't necessarily fearless. They, however, hide their fear from their team.
Leaders ask for help.
Leaders will be bleeders.

Another teen in our community committed suicide this week after, they say, she was bullied. Parents are rushing to talk to their kids about homosexuality and acceptance in an attempt to avoid further tragedies.

I believe we are missing the mark here. School and church leaders are afraid to truly lead...they are afraid to appear politically incorrect. Recent events out of Penn State and Syracuse University suggest the same to me.

This child didn't know her worth as a child of God.

Help me Lord to be a better leader for my peers, my students, and my children.

A Touch of Grey

Thank you M, for your note! I'm so grateful that you think of me! It made my day to find your letter in the mail!

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It's a lesson to me, the devils and the East and the free
The abc's we all must face, try to save a little grace.
The Grateful Dead

This weekend I noticed that Mr. WestBerryDad and I had both acquired a further touch of grey.

Moving has been difficult. The dog, the sheep, the washer, the piano and well, a good 3/4 of our "stuff" is still at the "ex-house."

I'm in the middle of an investigation involving several arms of law enforcement and I need to reference years of back e-mails. My mother decided, out of the blue, to cancel said e-mail account (MOAN).

Last night a teenage member of our church family drove off of a ravine. The car flipped over and all four in the car were Mercy Flighted to the hospital (prayers, please).

And last week I took my company's required health evaluation. The on-line test revealed that if I don't shape up, I will probably die from a stress-related illness.

I've been duly warned.

So today I'm trying to incorporate even more stress-reduction into my day. After my shower I imaged the tension in my body lifting up to the Lord like steam rising. I listened to Bobby McFerrin on the radio ("Don't worry be happy!") I rap to myself a la Chile Peppers "give it away, give it away now."

I feel a bit silly.

Really, I am enjoying the journey. And I'm grateful for every second with my family even if the "cow gives kerosene." Who cares about another touch of grey (' cause my hairdresser is on speed dial:)

QVC

With turmoil in Egypt mounting and crisis all over the world, it seems frivolous to focus on shopping and excess. However, in my own little world there is an abundance of stress these days...a broken dryer, a teenager with a rotten attitude, overdue grad school papers. Gotta take a break from serious for a few minutes....

When we moved into our new house the six-, now seven-year old longed to put candles in the windows. With 15 rooms there is no shortage of windows so we settled on enough electric candles for the front windows that face the road. We purchased an even two dozen candles at Lowe's, filled them with AA batteries, screwed on the tops, and allowed W to set them out.

Each morning W loosed the bulbs to turn off the candles, and each night he lit them again. The ambiance they created was warm and welcoming.

This lasted for maybe three days. Then the boys began to use the candles as props for "scary games." Several candles got knocked off of their posts and were broken. We blew through two value packs of batteries. I took several shards of broken bulb glass in the heel.

Enough with the candles.

At our Open House a friend visited and said, "Oh, the QVC candles are so much better." Better ,how? They don't shatter? They don't use batteries so quickly? They burn brighter? Are they tied into a switch so that all 24 turn on and off at once?

I began to wonder if i'd really missed something with the QVC thing. I don't have TV, but I've certainly seen the show while staying at hotels. I could look it up on the internet.

Some of my girlfriends shop there quite often, but I usually tune out the conversation when it turns to this topic. What if it's true?! Do you shop on QVC?

Signed,
Mom with an inferiority complex.

Ketchup and Salt

We closed on the new farm last Tuesday. What an adventure this has been!

We stayed at the new house on the very first night. Mr. WestBerry fetched mattresses for the children and our bed and we collapsed after hosting his parents for an "opening day" dinner of pizza and wings provided by the sellers' real estate agent.

Since then, we've taken it day by day. We take a van or truck-load of boxes over on our way to/or from work or when a situation necessitates a special trip. Last night, for example, we discovered that their weren't enough boy socks at the new house (H2) for school so we ran over.

Our dog is at the old house, keeping guard. He was glad to see us (again).

Today I'm working on grading and my own homework here at H1 (House 1) because there is no high speed cable at H2. The washer and dryer are still here as is the stove. From the chest freezer downstairs I pulled some frozen french fries for my lunch.

But the ketchup and salt are at H2.

We're making do.

Croup

I was wondering, this morning, if I would even remember, ten or twenty years from now, that right before moving into our new house we had croup.

I do remember that I was sick for Christmas both last year and the year before. I remember that N had whooping cough while we were practicing for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

That whole thing, quite frankly, was a nightmare. He would stand over the sink and cough and you would think that you heard the water running but in effect, it was blood gushing from his mouth. Once we had a diagnosis three county health departments got involved and we had to alert every person we'd been in contact with for two weeks prior.

So three children with croup seems minor, really.

J, in kinder garden, has missed a week of school. His fever was terribly high and he wheezed and gagged and barked for several days. We went to the doctor for steroid and saline inhalation treatments.

I was unable to miss more than two days of work to care for him. The two older brothers, generously, each took a day off of school to stay with J (and play video games).

W, in second grade, is still home. And it's Halloween. Will I break my "you can't go out if you don't go to school" rule?

We are supposed to go to a dinner party. The doctor says that croup is EVERYWHERE and, as long as there is no fever, we are free to mingle with the public.

Lots of hand washing this Halloween.